No checks, only crossings

For more than 60 years, this remote stretch of bottomland was one of the most closely guarded sectors of Central Europe.

For more than 60 years, this remote stretch of bottomland was one of the most closely guarded sectors of Central Europe. The borders of three countries8212;Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic8212;intersect here along the Neisse River. For as long as anyone can remember, the rhythms of life on all sides have been regulated by a dense network of security depots, road barriers and immigration checkpoints that were originally designed to keep people out and prevent others from leaving.

On Friday, however, each of the crossings went finally dark as borders were thrown open along frontiers that had separated Eastern and Western Europe since the end of World War II. The last vestiges of the Iron Curtain will disappear.

For the first time, travellers have the freedom to drive east from the Algarve coast of Portugal all the way to the edge of Russia without encountering a border guard demanding proof of identification.

8220;It will be a monumental event,8221; said Martin Puta, mayor of Hradek nad Nisou, a town of about 7,500 people. 8220;It will not only mean the end of border controls, but also the end of a psychological barrier.8221;

Europe8217;s border-free zone has been expanding gradually since 1985, when Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed to allow one another8217;s citizens free passage into and out of their territories.

The catalyst for the latest extension was the 2004 admission of 10 countries8212;mostly from Eastern Europe8212;to the European Union. But not all European countries have signed up for borderless travel. Britain and Ireland decided not to join, and most of the Balkan countries have been kept out.

The ease of travel between Eastern and Western Europe had already eased significantly in recent years. Czechs, Poles and Germans in this area, known as the Little Triangle, had to flash only a driver8217;s license when crossing the border. Pedestrians walking over international footbridges and hiking paths here could do so without breaking stride.

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Andre Matthausch, 35, owner of a popular Zittau bar and restaurant, already crosses into Poland and the Czech Republic to shop five times a week.

Others, however, fret that the new freedoms will bring problems. In particular, many Germans worry that criminals from their less prosperous neighbors will see the open borders as an invitation to come steal cars and rob houses.

In Bogatynia, a town of about 20,000 people that serves as the Polish anchor of the Little Triangle, the deputy mayor, Jerzy Stachyra, said the concept of borders will take longer to disappear. 8220;From where I lived, I could see the houses of Germany and the Germans walking along the river,8221; he recalled. 8220;But if you had told me 20 years ago that you could one day cross the border like nothing was there, I would never have believed it.8221;